Endive, blue cheese, and pear salad is an elegant and easy approach to eating healthfully without having it seem like penance. Quite the contrary. The melding of sweet and savory and salty and slightly tangy will have everyone complimenting you and clamoring for more.–Renee Schettler Rossi

Directions

Make the salad

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

2. Place the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until fragrant, 5 to 8 minutes. Keep careful watch as the walnuts go from not quite done to scorched quite quickly. Transfer the walnuts to a plate to cool.

3. Thinly slice the pear and toss it with the lemon juice in a salad bowl. Add the walnuts, endive, and frisée. Crumble the blue cheese over the top.

Make the vinaigrette

4. Using the back of a chef’s knife, mash the garlic and coarse salt into a paste. (You can also do this with a mortar and pestle.) Add the garlic paste, mustard, and lemon juice to a bowl and whisk until combined. Whisk in the olive oil in a thin stream until the dressing thickens and emulsifies.

Assemble the salad

5. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and gently toss to coat. Serve immediately.